The Belmont Abbey women's basketball team overcame an early deficit with a late first half run, and scored 50 second half points as the Crusaders earned their fourth-straight win with an easy 86-59 win over the visiting St. Andrews Presbyterian Knights this evening at the Wheeler Center. The Abbey, which has won seven of its last eight, moves to 9-8 overall and 8-3 in Conference Carolinas, while St. Andrews remains winless at 0-15 overall and 0-11 in Conference Carolinas.

St. Andrews held the lead for most of the first half before a 15-7 Abbey run over the final 6:53 gave it a 36-29 halftime lead. The Knights lead never ballooned above five, and the Abbey made its move when Candace Fox sank a running layup with 8:23 left to cut the deficit to a pair. St. Andrews responded with a layup to move its advantage back to four, but a three-pointer from Kelsey Long, followed by a Shayla Jackson layup after a Knights turnover, gave the Crusaders the lead for good at 23-22 with 6:53 left.

Jackson scored the next six points to move the Abbey's lead to seven, and after a Knights free throw, baskets by Jackson and Amanda McDonald moved the cushion to ten at 33-23 with 2:59 to play. St. Andrews scored six of the final eight points of the half to cut their halftime deficit to 36-29.

The second half was all Belmont Abbey, as it shot 76 percent (19-25) from the floor in the stanza, outscoring St. Andrews 50-30. The lead moved to 20 points with just over five minutes gone by, and would grow to as high as 31 at 81-50 on a three-pointer by Autumn Smith-Faulker with 2:59 to play.

The Abbey shot a season-best 60 percent (33-55) as Jackson led all scorers with 21 points on nine of 13 shooting from the floor. She also had seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in just 25 minutes. She was one of five Crusaders in double figures as Paula Regalado and Melisa Foures both finished with 12 points. Long and McDonald both added 11. Foures and Regalado both finished with seven rebounds as the Abbey dominated the boards 37-26. Fox finished with five assists and four steals.

St. Andrews was led by Natalie Whitman's 12 points, the only Knights player to reach double figures. St. Andrews shot 41.8 percent (23-55) from the field.